Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is getting analyzed even more by fans now that it has made its debut on the streaming service Disney Plus. This includes a reappraisal of one of the film’s most divisive characters.
Even during the earliest announcement of the casting choice for the film that surfaced last year, Will Porter’s Adam Warlock was one of the most anticipated characters for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the end product left some audience members a bit let down when Warlock finally appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earlier this year.
In all likelihood, this perceived disappointment could be attributed to the unusual character choices for him, such as being child-like due to his creators ejecting him from his pod prematurely and Warlock serving as something of a secondary henchman for much of the movie. Though he was quite powerful in Vol. 3, Warlock did not quite resemble the god-like hero people were familiar with from the comics.
However, one Reddit user on the r/MarvelStudios subreddit pointed out how Warlock’s character arc has a lot more cleverness to it than what appears on the surface. That is largely because his artificial creation and exploitation greatly resemble the origin of the very character he tried to destroy in the opening scene: Bradley Cooper’s Rocket Raccoon.
I love this new angle on Warlock’s origin since I was one of the many movie-goers who were a bit puzzled by his role in the plot of Vol. 3. As someone who didn’t care much for the Sovereign subplot in either Vol. 2 or Vol. 3, this illuminating piece of analysis actually reinvigorates my interest in Warlock as a character and the possibility for growth he has as a new Guardian in the MCU. With that said, I believe it’s safe to say Vol. 3 could perhaps be best described as a prologue to Warlock’s character, with hopefully his best moments still yet to come in the overall Marvel franchise.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now streaming on Disney Plus.